Only Bai Chen was somewhat confused. What came next? Master it?
Suddenly, Bai Chen felt as though there was something extra in the air around him, as if the air had twisted somehow and was giving off a violet glow.
"!!!"
The sudden pain caught Bai Chen off guard and brought him to his knees. At the same time, he noticed that the hands supporting his body had turned grayish white.
You had to be kidding. Was he going to turn into a zombie? Nothing had happened back in Changkong City, so why was he turning into one now?!
The fear of death instantly swept over him. Bai Chen hurriedly activated his transformation, trying to turn into Kiana or Kallen to avoid the damage. But it had no effect at all. His transformation ability was like it had disconnected and gave no response.
"No! Don't! I still have things to do! I don't want to die!"
Bai Chen stared in terror at the spreading grayish white. The intense pain made him convulse so badly that he could not even speak clearly. His kneeling posture changed, and he collapsed onto the ground like a lump of mud.
"Bai Chen! What happened?!"
"Why is the Honkai energy concentration so high?!"
The other two consciousnesses inside Bai Chen finally noticed what was happening outside. Hadn't they just been in the St. Freya dormitory? How had they suddenly appeared in such a bizarre place?
Was it because of Bai Chen's special ability?
"It's too late."
Fu Hua looked regretfully at Bai Chen's completely grayish-white body. She had finally found a partner, only for him to be gone so soon.
Bai Chen lay limply on the ground, watching his hands begin to turn to ash as tears streamed down uncontrollably. He had boasted so boldly. He wanted to find a home. There were still so many things he wanted to do...
Then Bai Chen's body scattered like ashes carried away by the wind, leaving nothing behind.
The male protagonist, dead.
No, Bai Chen's consciousness had not disappeared at all. The moment he turned to ashes, his consciousness extended branches from another dimension. Under the influence of this space, it gathered the ashes and condensed them into a brand-new body.
"What the hell happened?"
What had happened before their eyes struck Kallen and Fu Hua's worldview hard. They simply could not understand what was going on.
After reconstructing his body, Bai Chen found several key points about manipulating Honkai energy had appeared on the system panel. A bad thought flashed through his mind. Was he going to keep reviving and be unable to leave this room unless he learned it?!
The excessive concentration of Honkai energy would not wait for Bai Chen. The pain of Honkai corruption quickly swept through his entire body again!
"Urgh!!"
Unable to endure it, Bai Chen curled up again and tried to manipulate the Honkai energy according to the tutorial on the panel. Then he discovered that he could not manipulate even a tiny bit of it.
Setting aside whether it was possible to control, Bai Chen's Honkai energy adaptability in the face of this level of Honkai energy was like a dog trying to pull an elephant. It was utterly futile.
Before he could move any of that Honkai energy, its powerful corrosive force reduced his body to dust.
Before long, Bai Chen turned to ashes again just as before, only to immediately reconstruct a new body.
Kallen and Fu Hua could do nothing but worry. Fu Hua had wanted to use Feather to help Bai Chen control the Honkai energy, but Feather did not respond to her at all. Kallen could not even exchange consciousness with Bai Chen now.
"Damn it! Control it! Control it already!"
"Why?! Why can't I adapt?!"
"I don't want this! Please! I won't learn it!!!"
Who knew how long had passed? Bai Chen had died and reassembled so many times that he could no longer tell. In that space where every day felt like a year, Bai Chen regretted drawing that skill from the lottery.
He wanted to go out and eat the breakfast Mei made. He wanted to play games with Kiana and Bronya. He wanted to go to school. Why had he been so foolish as to draw that damned lottery!
Even Bai Chen himself had not noticed, but although his control proficiency had not improved, the speed at which he died was still getting slower and slower.
Fu Hua, who had been watching all along, could not help guessing that perhaps Bai Chen's resistance to Honkai energy was slowly increasing during his repeated reconstructions.
Chapter 17: Completed
Amid his muddled consciousness, Bai Chen vaguely saw the memories of the Herrscher of Flamescion. Was it because he had transformed into her before?
In those memories, Bai Chen experienced from Kiana's first-person perspective the days after the Final Lesson, when she had to fulfill her promise to Himeko even alone.
Was Kiana enduring the same pain back then?
Kiana had ultimately defeated the nightmare in her heart and surpassed her past. What about him? Didn't he want to protect Kiana?
But with his transformation cheat, as long as he improved steadily, one day he would become stronger than Kiana of the End. Did he really need to draw system skills?
He did!
No one knew what the future would become! Just like Old Yang could never have imagined that he would one day participate in battles on the level of Aeons!
What if he encountered an existence beyond the level of the End someday? Could a "main body" only a limited amount stronger than the End truly help Kiana?
Did he know how strong visitors from beyond the stars were?
Don't run away! Because he knew them! Kiana, Himeko, Mei—even Otto, none of them had ever run away!
He would turn the world into what he wanted it to be!
As Bai Chen's body condensed again, violet-pink flames ignited around him. There was not a trace of impurity in the flames. From afar, they looked like fire-shaped glazed crystal wrapping around his body.
After burning for a while, the flames suddenly exploded, revealing Bai Chen's jade-white body. Bai Chen opened his eyes, exposing violet-pink pupils that gleamed like gemstones.
Even his originally black hair now had violet-pink highlights around his bangs. Those highlights flickered like flames, as though the earlier flames had been condensed into them.
Bai Chen raised a hand and stared at his arms, white as jade, in deep thought. Now that he had calmed down, he could clearly feel the Honkai energy's corrosion slowing. In fact...
"Bai Chen?"
Fu Hua's voice sounded in Bai Chen's mind.
"Class Monitor? You came in with me too?"
Only then did Bai Chen notice that Fu Hua and Kallen had been calling to him worriedly the whole time.
"Thank goodness. Bai Chen, you finally calmed down and can hear us."
Only when Kallen saw that Bai Chen was no longer in that muddled state did she finally relax. After staying in this space for so long, she had roughly figured out the situation here as well.
"Listen, Bai Chen. From my observations, your resistance to Honkai energy is now enough to withstand the Honkai concentration here. Next, I will teach you some Honkai energy manipulation techniques."
Seeing the large characters in the sky, Fu Hua naturally did not hold back and began teaching Bai Chen the insights she had accumulated over the years.
Fu Hua's fifty thousand years of experience were far more useful than the beginner tutorial given by the system. Bai Chen immediately began manipulating the Honkai energy inside his body as Fu Hua instructed.
Kallen also benefited greatly from listening beside them. As expected of the Shenzhou Immortal—even with amnesia, her experience was not something a five-hundred-year-old girl like Kallen could compare to.
After an unknown amount of time, Bai Chen heard birds chirping outside the window and climbed out of bed. He stared at the rising sun beyond the window as though he had been separated from the world for ages.
Even the most ordinary sun felt unfamiliar to Bai Chen. It had been too long. He had stayed in that space for far too long.
But despite spending so much time there, why had he not grown at all?
Bai Chen left his room intending to eat breakfast before heading to class, but the moment he reached the living room, he found everyone staring at him with wide eyes.
"Bai Chen, what happened to you?"
Himeko walked up to Bai Chen with concern in her voice. After one night, Bai Chen looked like a completely different person. Not only had his skin tone changed, but even his hair color had changed somewhat.
Had Bai Chen's new transformation ability caused these changes? Seeing how haggard Bai Chen looked when he arrived, Himeko was worried about his physical condition.
"No, I'm fine, Teacher Himeko. My ability just changed a little."
Bai Chen looked at the skill section of the system panel, where several new things had indeed appeared.
Skills: Advanced Collapse Energy Manipulation, Advanced Honkai Energy Resistance
"No! We have to get you checked out!"
Himeko dragged Bai Chen out the door. As his guardian, she would not ignore him just because he said he was fine. She would not feel at ease until she had him examined.
"But I haven't eaten breakfast yet!"
Bai Chen stretched out a hand toward the breakfast Mei had prepared. In that space, he had wanted to eat Mei's cooking so badly.
"Good. You can eat after the test."
Ignoring Bai Chen's objections, Himeko forcibly dragged him toward St. Freya's medical department.
Bronya, sitting at the table nearby, recalled the flame-like highlights she had just seen in Bai Chen's hair. She took a sip of porridge thoughtfully and said softly:
"Cool."
The facts proved that nothing was wrong with Bai Chen's body. His weight had even decreased slightly compared to the last examination.
Only after reading the report did Himeko finally relax. Then she saw Bai Chen sitting innocently in a chair, gnawing on bread while staring upward, and she could not help laughing in exasperation. When they had left that morning, his complexion had looked deathly, but his data showed that he was healthier than ever.
"See? Hurry up and get to class!"
Himeko smacked Bai Chen on the back before going off to handle her own business. Bai Chen could only run to class helplessly.
Nothing happened all day. Taking advantage of the fact that today's final class was history, Bai Chen told Mei that he had something to do and quietly followed Old Yang afterward.
Nothing unusual happened at first. Only after they reached a small forest did Old Yang stop walking.
"Student Bai Chen, it's after school. Instead of returning to the dormitory, do you have a question for your teacher?"
Old Yang was not surprised to notice Bai Chen following him. After all, Bai Chen had never expected to hide very well. He was discovered almost every time he tried to follow someone.
Bai Chen stepped out from the side with a broad smile and said helplessly:
"Teacher Yang, right? I've been observing you for a long time. Did you really think you hid it well? I discovered your hidden identity."
Upon hearing Bai Chen's words, Welt Yang revealed a dangerous look in his eyes, no longer concealed by his bangs.
Welt Yang had naturally learned about Bai Chen during his time undercover. Bai Chen possessed a strange ability that was even somewhat similar to the authority of the Herrscher of Reason, so it was not strange for him to discover an undercover identity.
Just as Old Yang was considering whether he should subdue Bai Chen first, Bai Chen's next words interrupted him.
"You've been hiding the fact that you're the author of Honkai: Star Rail Adventure, haven't you!"
"?"
Chapter 18: Teacher Yang, You Wouldn't Want To
Old Yang was stunned by Bai Chen's abrupt turn. He had been ready to make a move against Bai Chen, but after that, he nearly failed to react.
"Hehe, Teacher Yang, you wouldn't want other people to find out you're the author of Honkai: Star Rail Adventure, right? The principal was furious because the comic went on hiatus for two issues."
Bai Chen rubbed his hands together and leaned close to Old Yang, smiling as he watched his reaction.
Oh no! He was undercover at the academy, and a comic fan had come knocking to demand updates? He did not want that! If Theresa found out, would that shorty make life difficult for him?!
"Student Bai Chen, please calm down. Don't say strange things."
Old Yang looked at Bai Chen with cold sweat running down his face. Had this guy always been this unpredictable?
"If you don't want anyone else to know, help tutor me! I heard Teacher Yang is also top-tier in the sciences!"
Bai Chen pulled several science textbooks from his shoulder bag. There were a few subjects he had to retake this week, and he had no confidence in the science courses!
That was it? He was not demanding updates? Old Yang had thought Bai Chen had come in such a grand manner for something serious. When he realized Bai Chen was not here to demand updates, he immediately sighed in relief.
"Student Bai Chen, this is something a teacher should do anyway. Even if you hadn't threatened me, I would have helped you."
"So you really are the author of Honkai: Star Rail Adventure?"
"Uh..."
Thus, Bai Chen followed Old Yang to his dormitory, where he discovered that Old Yang's room was unexpectedly plain.
He had thought that with Old Yang's refusal to act his age, there would at least be a few super robot posters.
Then Old Yang began tutoring Bai Chen.
Was this what it meant for Old Yang to be the Herrscher of Reason? Those things that had originally seemed abstract became easy to understand under Old Yang's explanations. At this rate, passing the retakes would not be a problem.
Time flew by while he focused on studying. Before long, it was nearly nine o'clock. If he did not go back soon, Himeko would lecture him again. Bai Chen did not know why Himeko paid him so much attention. Even Kiana had not been scolded that many times.
"Thank you, Teacher Yang!"
"No need to thank me. It's a teacher's responsibility."
During their one-on-one lesson, Old Yang discovered that Bai Chen was unexpectedly smart. Then why was his knowledge so pitifully lacking? It was contradictory. Combined with Bai Chen's special ability, Old Yang grew more and more curious about him.
At that moment, Old Yang noticed that Bai Chen had not left. Instead, he was fidgeting there, seemingly unsure what to do.
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